Saturday, March 7, 2009

Modular Musings

Today, I spent the day working on modules. Some are to be used in about a week at the small show in a library during spring break, March 16-21. Most of the others are being readied for a showing at the Lubbock Arts Festival, April 30 - May 2.

In the short term, I'm doing minor repairs and adding details to several TTrak-N modules. I currently have several such modules, enough to set up a complete loop on a 2½' X 8' table.

Another local modeler, Allen, has been building some modules as well. We have put them together to form a larger double layout in a recent test. We are ready for the show.

In the middle term, I am beginning to resurrect three TTrak-N double module boxes left over from last year's teardown. I hope some scenery ideas will present themselves soon.

I have decided that four TTrak-HO modules the club owns need some TLC. The modules are about 20" wide, and have about 20" behind the tracks for scenery. They have been getting knocked around in storage, and have no scenery on them. Just plain, bare, black modules. Since I'm the guy who built the first modules for the club, I've felt the need to make them look better.

So, I'm doing minor repairs to them and adding scenery. I want them to look decent for the Arts Festival. The first of the four now has a hill running front-to-back that's about 3" tall. That's about 22' tall, in scale. The tracks run through a cut. I covered the hill with real sand, and will be adding scrub bushes and cactus to it. Simple, but at least it's something.

The second is a bit more ambitious. I'm building it as a Christmas tree farm. I have all the stuff for it, and warm weather is helping me be able to work in the shop. I'm having fun!

The third of the modules will get a simple small town scene. I'm planning a single street running front to back with structures along both sides, a few trees, and so forth. Several club members are donating buildings for it.

As for the fourth module, well, so far I'm as blank as it is. Hopefully, something will "reveal" itself soon. Nothing exotic, nothing difficult, just something better looking than a bare picec of plywood painted flat black.

And, I have my two TTrak-HO double wide modules. One is almost finished, the other is a ways from that. I have almost all the materials for these as well, but if I don't get anything else done, they are at least presentable enough to show.

There's one more TTrak-HO module to mention. I'll own it, since I've supplied all the kits, but Darrell is building a WW II RAF fighter field on a double-width module. He has assembled most of the kits (aircraft, buildings, ground support equipment) and is ready to start bringing it all together.

In the long term, possibly for show in the fall, there's the Trak-N modules mentioned in my previous blog. Right now, I just think and plan on them when I'm at work.

Somewhere in all that, there's On30 ... whew! No wonder I almost feel overwhelmed!